moments in stasis
by The Fields of Asphodel
Summary: A look, an exchange, a simple gift or a bar of notes can change a life. These are those moment, preserved in memory.
1. Quitting Him

**Quitting Her **

She shall not cry. Blink. Blink. She will not cry. A hand rests across her stomach, fingers poised and ready to claw into flesh. But she holds back her anger. In the glow the moon casts her engagement rings shines silver and she wonders if it is a hidden metaphor, something about gold turning lesser in the light of the sphere her husband so fears. She wonders if he is still tied to her as she is to him or if he has forfeited his golden band in favour of another life. One cannot be married to an unmarried man, so if he has broken his word hers dissolves into nothing. Her mother always did warn her of the dishonesty of men.

It is unfair, Nymphadora Tonks (she never did change her name, and now she wishes that she had, if only for another part of him to cling to) thinks, that in all her life as an Auror the only true friend to be ripped away left of his own accord (and here again she wonders at a cloaked meaning, the errand though that she has no friends to speak of passes through her mind.) She does wish that he had not left, merely because she is too tired to be furious or guilty or sad. Wishing is left for the hopeless, and the girl with the pink hair is all too close to hopelessness.

She shall not cry.

(It is the most sinful of crimes to break the tainted happy.)

* * *

26/4/11


	2. Prince Charming

**Prince Charming**

He arrived in a battered leather jacket and torn jeans and smiled at her – a genuine smile – as he sauntered passed. He wore a shark tooth earing instead of a sword and his armour consisted of creased employee's robes. His faithful stallion had decayed and rusted over time, diminished to a rod of hawthorn standing in the shed. His castle was made of wood and barely held together by rusty pins and love. His riches consisted of a rowdy group of redheads. He was neither gallant nor faithful in God but he was charming and walked with a spring in his step and fought for what he believed in, screw the world.

He was her Prince Charming, despite all the other better-suited knights.

AN: Bill and Fleur, or Bill and any other.


	3. Let Me Out

**Let Me Out**

She spends the rest of her life hiding behind thick glass windows and solid oak doors.

Public appearances become scarce; a trip down Diagon Alley has morphed into her worst nightmare. Narcissa always imagined that it would be _his_ face haunting her dreams, his pale, gaunt features chasing her until her waking moments. She always though her dark master would claim his rightful place as her most hated.

But even Voldemort in his high towers of aloof abhorrence feared the fickle crowd below as she has come to. The mindless masses need only a spark to set them alight and while each burns dully together they can create a supernova. There is safety in numbers but also strength.

Shame has driven her to her hide in her once-fairy-tale castle-turned-prison. She dares not show her face but she dares not run completely for she will not stain the Malfoy name with cowardice (the world may have changed and all may be lost but she will hold fast to what she was taught, blood equality be damned.) When you can't fight or flight, what do you do? You hide and hope no-one comes to find you.

No-one cared enough to seek her out, and somehow that hurt even more.

* * *

AN: I'm open to any suggestions for particular characters or prompts you would like to see, just mention it in a review.


	4. Circles

**Going In Circles**

They're trapped in this maze of twists and turns with no end in sight. She lost the map somewhere along the line and he dropped his ball of thread and now they're hopelessly lost. They hit familiar corner after familiar corner and turn back in vexation. He cracks a joke; she laughs, takes his hand and runs off down another path that he knows they've already scouted, with a smile on his face. They're going in circles, but they don't seem to mind.

* * *

A/N: Written with Scorpios/Rose in mind but will work for any pairing.


	5. Tattered Edges

**Tattered Edges **

She holds the picture almost reverently in her hands, the tips of her thumbs supporting the creased paper as it leans on her fingers. The photo is old and fairly grimy from constant abuse; the edges tattered and crumpled with love. Three students beam out from the pages, captured stationary. Hermione has always felt that muggle printing made the picture seem much more real than having the miniature versions of themselves animate. It was a still, designed to capture the moment, not draw it out artificially. Harry, with his mess of black hair and tilted glasses grinned up at her with distant ease. Ron was laughing at a joke, blue eyes sparkling with intensity. And there - right there – she stood, an arm wrapped around both boys and a hat obscuring most of her hair. Hermione wishes that everything could go back to being so simple.

A/N: Placed some time during the Deathly Hallows, in the tent after Ron had left.


End file.
